This year’s rapid rise in Egypt’s gas output, led by the ramp-up of Eni’s giant Zohr field, led to an even more rapid swing from Egypt being a net LNG importer as recently as September 2018, to exporting an average of 570mn cfd for the first eight months of 2019.
In September Egypt took the drastic step of capping output rather than see the country’s surplus exported at rock bottom LNG prices (MEES, 11 October). Latest data indicate that this policy continued in October when output rose only marginally to 6.29bn cfd, 460mn cfd below the record 6.75mn cfd figure set in August (see chart). Nevertheless, the seasonal fall in domestic gas demand (October consumption at 5.75bn cfd is 520mn cfd below the August peak) means that LNG exports jumped from September’s zero to 353mn cfd for October. (CONTINUED - 455 WORDS)
